FREQUENCY OF VISITS TO GP

Most people who had visited a general practitioner in the past year had seen their GP more than once in that time (81% or 11.4 million people). Until the age of 75, in fact, most people had visited a GP two to three times in the past year.

Around 70% of people aged 75 years and over had seen a GP four or more times in the year, with almost one in four people this age seeing a GP 12 or more times in the year (24%).

Less than nine percent of people aged under 55 had seen a GP 12 or more times in the year (see Figure 3.1).

Overall, one in ten people who had seen a GP in the past year made 12 or more visits in that time (11% or 1.5 million people). This was highest in areas of most disadvantage, for which the rate of seeing a GP more than 12 times a year (17%) was nearly three times that of people living in areas of least disadvantage (6%). Rates of seeing a GP less than 12 times a year, however, did not differ significantly between levels of disadvantage.

People from the Northern Territory had seen a GP less frequently than other Australians - for the most part, three times or less in a year (81% compared with the national average of 61%).

Throughout this publication, it can be seen that there is a clear relationship between people's self-assessed health and their use of health services. Figure 3.2 shows that people who rated their general health as fair or poor were more likely to see a GP more frequently than those who rated their health as good or better.

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